Lesley McNair

Lesley James McNair (25 May 1883-25 July 1944) was a General of the US Army who was one of the highest ranking generals in the army and one of the masterminds of the Normandy Campaign of World War II. He was killed by friendly fire from the US 8th Air Force during Operation Cobra.

Biography
Lesley James McNair was born on 25 May 1883 in Verndale, Minnesota. He graduated from the US Military Academy in 1904 and was sent to observe the French Army's artillery in 1913, shortly before the start of World War I. McNair became a Major after serving under General John J. Pershing in the Pancho Villa Expedition during the Mexican Revolution, and he was awarded the DSM and Legion d'Honneur for his services in World War I as a soldier in the US 1st Infantry Division. In October 1918 he was promoted to Brigadier-General at the age of 35, the youngest general in the US Army.

In 1919 he returned to his permanent rank of Major and graduated from the Army War College in 1929, and in March 1937 he was given his rank of Brigadier-General again. In March 1942, after World War II began for the United States, McNair was given command of the Army Ground Forces. In this post, he was responsible for preparing the US Army's infantry for overseas service, and in June 1944 he was one of the masterminds behind the Allied invasion of Normandy in France. McNair observed the progress of the army in Operation Cobra from a bunker, but he was killed by bombs dropped by the US 8th Air Force in a friendly fire incident. He was posthumously promoted to full General, and was the second highest-ranking US Army general to be killed in the war, behind Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr..